Theory A large part of feminist criminology has arisen as a result of radical crime theories. Feminist crime theories investigate the influence of gender differences on crime phenomena. The advocates of this approach criticize that in other approaches and crime theories a transferability of the postulated connections – which are
Theories of Crime
Power-Control-Theory (Hagan)
John Hagan’s Power Control Theory explains differences in crime rates between men and women. It attributes them to the fact that girls and boys in families are brought up differently. While boys have more freedom and are therefore more prone to delinquency, girls are more strongly regulated. As a result,
Outsiders (Becker)
In his book Outsiders, published in 1963, Becker describes the processes by which certain behaviors are criminalized. So-called moral entrepreneurs attempt to eliminate an evil they perceive by creating and enforcing norms. The groups that continue to practice the newly criminalized behaviour thus become outsiders. Through these processes, self-fulfilling prophecies
Marxist theory of crime
Marxist theories of crime aim at the power difference between different social classes. Laws and their enforcement serve to maintain these power differences. Main proponent Richard Quinney, William Chambliss Theory The contents of Marxist crime theories do not always automatically go back to the social theorist Karl Marx. Rather, the
Labelling-approach (overview)
The labelling approach explains delinquency using the interactions between the delinquent and those that define delinquency. Unlike earlier theories, he does not ask for the reasons why someone becomes criminal (etiology), but looks at those processes at the macro level that lead to the criminalisation of certain actions. At the
Labelling – primary and secondary deviance (Lemert)
Edwin M. Lemert distinguishes between primary and secondary deviance. An individual first commits primary deviance. Through a process of labelling the individual is forced to play the role of deviant. As a reaction to this role assignment (“You are criminal!”), the labelled person adapts his behaviour according to the role
